President Barack Obama doubled down Thursday on his handling of the Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl prisoner swap, saying he makes 'no apologies' for releasing five Taliban terrorists in exchange for the safe return of an accused U.S. Army deserter.

'I make absolutely no apologies for making sure we get back a young man to his parents,' he said in Brussels during a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, 'and that the American people understand that this is somebody’s child and that we don’t condition whether or not we make the effort to try to get them back.'

'We had a prisoner of war whose health had deteriorated, and we were deeply concerned about [him],' Obama told reporters about Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. 'And we saw an opportunity and we seized it. And I make no apologies for that.'

Hours later the Associated Press published claims that the administration told U.S. senators that they were kept in the dark about the hostage swap because the Taliban threatened to kill Bergdahl if information about the negotiations was leaked.

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'I make no apologies': President Barack Obama spoke alongside British Prime Minister David Cameron during a news conference at the G7 summit in Brussels, Belgium

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was returned to the United States by Taliban forces on Saturday after nearly five years in captivity, but the announcement that the Obama administration had secured his release was met with widespread criticism because five Taliban leaders were released in exchange

A jocular Obama addressed a wide variety of foreign-affairs topics, but got the most attention for his continued defense of the White House's actions in the Bergdahl affair

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel visited the crew of the USS Vella Gulf on June 5 in Constanta, Romania, taking time out to defend President Obama's decision to trade five terrorists for a U.S. Army sergeant accused od deserting his post

Keeping the negotiations secret because of a death threat, however, may not hold water and is already being described among congressional aides as a flimsy excuse.

Congress was advised in 2011 and 2012 of two separate plans to make a similar deal, and nothing was leaked despite unanimous opposition on Capitol Hill.

'I’m not sure I’m the only one,' Reid told reporters on Thursday. 'I mean, it's a big deal over nothing.'

Saying he was unimpressed by concerns over the notification timeline in Congress, Reid channeled former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's famous one-liner about the 2012 terror attack in Benghazi, Libya.

'Is it Friday or is it Saturday?' he exclaimed. 'What difference does it make? What difference does it make?'

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The president also defended his decision in Brussels to appear publicly on Saturday with Bergdahl's parents in a press conference that has become an embarrassing feature of the deepening controversy.

'With respect to how we announced it, I think it's important for people to realize that this is not some abstraction,' Obama told reporters. 'This is not a political football.'

'You have a couple of parents whose kid volunteered to fight in a distant land, who they hadn't seen in five years, and weren't sure whether they'd ever see again. And as commander-in-chief of the United States armed forces, I am responsible for those kids.'

Obama also pushed back against members of Congress – both Republicans and Democrats – for stirring up a hornet's nest of opposition to his handling of the prisoner swap.

'I'm never surprised by controversies that are whipped up in Washington, right?' he said. 'That's par for the course.'

Hagel said Thursday that no one would have forgiven the U.S> if the White House had let Bergdahl die in captivity

Obama appeared with British PM David Cameron at the G7 meeting in Brussels, an event originally slated for Sochi, Russia but moved West because of Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine

Arizona Republican Senator John McCain and the 99 other U.S. senators received a private briefing Wednesday night from Obama administration officials about Bergdahl's release -- a move designed to quell anger on Capitol Hill from members of Congress who were kept out of the loop

A jocular Obama addressed a wide variety of foreign-affairs topics, but got the most attention for his continued defense of the White House's actions in the Bergdahl affair

Obama has
been widely accused of breaking a federal law that he signed in
December, by failing to notify Congress 30 days before releasing
detainees from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

His
administration has justified the action by citing fears about
Bergdahl's health. Those concerns, according to a wide variety of news
reports, were first raised when the Taliban delivered a video to the
U.S. government in January showing a frail-looking Bergdahl apparently
in need of medical attention.

However,
some believe that video appears to have been a ploy to accelerate
negotiations. In a subsequent video released by Taliban forces Tuesday
night, Bergdahl appeared strong and in good health when U.S. Special
Forces retrieved him from his captors.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel stood firm Thursday on concerns for Bergdahl's health, telling BBC News that 'it was our judgement, based on the information that we had, that his life, his health were in peril.'

'Can you imagine if we would have waited or taken the chance of leaks over a 30-day period?' he asked.

'I will tell you what I know and I made a judgement on this too – that would have seriously imperiled us ever getting him out.'

Hagel added that the decision inside the White House to green-light the five-for-one hostage exchange was 'unanimous.'

All 100 U.S. senators attended a private closed-door briefing Wednesday night with Obama administration officials, designed to quell anger on Capitol Hill among members of Congress upset about being out of the loop prior to the prisoner swap.

Party canceled: Flags and balloons in Hailey, Idaho mark the release from captivity of local son Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, but town leaders have canceled a planned party for the accused deserter, officially citing costs as the reason

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) said he will file a bill in Congress next week that would block the Obama administration from releasing any more Guantanamo Bay prisoners like 'The Taliban Five' who were traded for Bergdahl

Some
senators said afterward that Bergdahl did not 'look good' in the
January proof-of-life video, which they were shown during the meeting.

'It
appeared that he was drugged and that he was barely responsive, in the
video itself,' Senate Intelligence Committee vice-chair Sen. Saxby
Chambliss, a Republican from Georgia, told reporters.

Obama
referred to the Senate briefing on Thursday, saying that 'we’re now
explaining to Congress the details of how to move forward.'

He said his administration had vaguely discussed with members of Congress the 'possibility that something like this might occur.'

'But
because of the nature of the folks we were dealing with and the fragile
nature of these negotiations, we felt it was important to go ahead and
do what we did.'

A 2013 law
that Obama signed in December required Obama to provide chairmen of
congressional intelligence and foreign affairs committees with 30 days'
notice before transferring Guantanamo Bay prisoners to foreign
countries.

South
Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Wednesday that Obama will
face certain impeachment if he secretly released more prisoners in the
same fashion.

And
Wednesday night on the Fox News Channel 'Hannity' program, Texas
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said he plans to introduce a bill formally
stopping the transfer of any more detainees from the military prison
camp.

'I
intend next week to file legislation to halt any releases from
Guantanamo until we get to the bottom of what happened in Bergdahl,'
Cruz said, 'and provide some real congressional oversight here, because
it is really needed.'